Patrick McKenzie

Everybody assumed someone else was looking at it, essentially.

So that's one reason.

Short sellers often assume, okay, I need to find a

like first get put on the path of something and have a differentiated point of view.

And then like another issue for short sellers is you have to find an instrument and you have to find another side of the trade to successfully do that.

And there was, without being expert on Bitcoin micro mechanics, it was like difficult in size to make the trade.

Mt.

Gox is insolvent right now, other than like pull money out of Mt.

Gox, which people were definitely trying to do.

I got a number of interesting business proposals

in the 2012-ish timeframe from people who said, hey, you're an American and you clearly understand international banking and you live in Japan.

Could I cause you to get some yen and have you wire that to me in America and you can take a percentage?

And I said, I really don't like where this is going.

And they said, well, there's this company and I've got some money over there and they can send yen, but they can't send dollars.

And I'm like, is that because they don't actually have the money?

And they're like, no, no, no, it's a Japanese banking thing.

And I'm like,

No, it's not.

Japanese banks are very good at sending wires.

And they said, no, no, no.